After 2 Years, Rudolph Trail Has Gone Cold

Some Believe Bomb Suspect Is Dead Or Out Of N. Carolina

January 30, 2000|By Dahleen Glanton, Tribune Staff Writer.

ANDREWS, N.C. — The two-lane road leading to this small town in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains winds through the rugged wilderness that may have provided a refuge for suspected serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, one of America's most wanted fugitives.

Two years ago, federal authorities began one of the biggest manhunts in history for the former Army rifleman charged with six bombings that killed two people and injured 150. Rudolph, suspected of a bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, fled to western North Carolina following the Jan. 29, 1998, bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala. That blast killed one person and left another blind.

The search is centered in Nantahala National Forest, 530,000 acres of mountains with peaks as high as 5,000 feet, towering 400-year-old trees, cascading waterfalls and whitewater rivers.

To some, it might seem an unusual place for an alleged terrorist to hide. But for 33-year-old Rudolph, a carpenter and skilled mountaineer who spent his youth in Cherokee County, North Carolina, learning survival skills and paramilitary tactics, the forest is an ally.

So far, the manhunt has yielded little. Despite the offer of a $1 million reward, there have been no substantiated leads and no confirmed sightings since July 1998, leading many to believe Rudolph is either dead or that he has fled the area.

In December, the outgoing director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, John Magaw, stirred controversy when he became the first official involved in the search to publicly say he believes Rudolph is dead, buried in one of more than 300 caves hidden within the woods.

"There hasn't been any missing food. There haven't been any missing shoes. No cabins have been broken into. Life isn't sustainable over this period of time if he stayed in there," Magaw told USA Today.

But some hunters and lifelong residents say otherwise. There is ample food, water and shelter for an experienced outdoorsman to survive in the wilderness. The difficulty, they said, most likely would be the isolation.

"There are lots of trails, big hollows half the size of town. It's beautiful and quiet and peaceful. There's water and fish and game and lots of warm caves. You could stay up there pretty comfortably," said Gary Galloway, an avid hiker who spends weeks at a time alone in the woods.

"But if he does have friends taking him food, wouldn't you think he might go and stay with them sometime? Who would ever know? Most people wouldn't recognize him if they passed him on the street."

The Southeast Bomb Task Force, composed of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the ATF, has vowed to continue the search until Rudolph is found or there is proof that he is elsewhere. But the task force, which at one time involved about 200 searchers, has been reduced to less than 75. Residents of Andrews, where the agents once kept a high profile, said the actual number remaining is close to 25.

"We don't want to rule out anything right now, including his (Rudolph's) death," said task force spokesman Patrick Crosby. "You won't see a lot of people out there searching now, but that doesn't mean we're not trying to catch him. We've slowed down our visual and overt operations and are concentrating on lead-driven situations. When we have leads, we will bring in more people."

Gone are the tracking dogs and the dark brown helicopters that used to rumble over the town day and night. Gone are the posters that once hung in local businesses declaring "Run Eric Run," "Eric Rudolph Ate Here" and "Eric Rudolph: 1998 Hide and Seek Champion."

Also gone is much talk among townspeople of the fugitive some once lifted to folk hero status.

In Andrews, a summer resort town about 90 miles south of Asheville, N.C., and 130 miles north of Atlanta, the search for Rudolph has been a blessing and a curse.

For a town that longed for name recognition, the Rudolph adventure created a surge of publicity and an economic boon that is now waning. But it also means that for two years, the town of 1,500 has been under constant watch by the FBI.

"There was a joke that Eric should have received `Businessman of the Year' in 1998 for helping our economy and tourism," said Jackie Lancaster, executive director of the Andrews Chamber of Commerce. "It helped to sustain some of our businesses that have empty rooms and empty seats at the table during the winter months. For the most part, our relationship with the agents has been positive."

Though Rudolph's motives for the bombings of which he is suspected have not been determined, authorities said they think he was motivated by extreme anti-government, anti-abortion and anti-gay sentiment, ideals he was exposed to growing up in Nantahala, a remote, rural community just north of Andrews.